In Another Universe
by NCISgirl1527
Summary: In another universe they might have had a shot but not in this universe. In this universe there would always be another woman Booth loved more that her. She knew that and she accepted that. It was just how things were. Hannah's thoughts on the break-up.


**_I was sad about Hannah and Booth ending their relationship because for all that I am Booth/Brennan shipper, I absolutely adored Hannah. We all knew she was going to get her heart broken…and now it has finally happened. Either way, I wanted to do something about what she was thinking…I'm not sure if it turned out the way I wanted it too, but it works. Enjoy._**

_**Spoilers: The Daredevil in the Mold, The Doctor in the Photo**_

_**Disclaimer: I do not own anything**_

Hannah bit back tears as she let herself into Booth's apartment. It was hard to believe that after almost a year of being together it had ended just like that. Yet she had known in her heart that this day was coming.

It was not that she had started to fall out of love with Seeley…it was that he had start to fall out of love with her. Not that he had said anything…actually she doubted if he had even admitted it to himself yet, but she did not need him to tell her. It was one of those things that a woman always knows, and she had known that the end was coming from the moment Temperance had admitted to Booth that she loved him.

Booth had told Hannah about his relationship with Temperance when they had first met. She had known then that some part of Booths heart belonged to his partner and always would, but that was fine with her. She was not the type of girlfriend who was overly protective or who became outraged if the man she was with spent time with other woman. As she saw it, that was his prerogative.

Either way, from the moment that she had met Temperance, she could tell that the other woman still harbored feelings for her partner. Hannah was not an idiot. Even though Temperance, like Booth, had tried to pretend that there was nothing there, she knew there was from the moment she walked in the lab. People she met had this habit of looking from her to Brennan and back to her.

Still both Seeley and Temperance thought, or at least acted like, they were over each other. Only now did Hannah realize that they both wanted to be over each other…it was simpler that way…it was simpler to fall in love with someone else. So when Booth had met her, it had seemed that fate had decided to help him move on, and he did…for a little while. He had been over Brennan, for the most part at least, until she admitted she was not over him.

In retrospect, it was easy to understand. He would always love her, but he also wanted her to be happy. If she did not want to be with him, he could deal with that, and he had. He had gone out and fallen in love with Hannah, which was okay because he knew Brennan did not want him. Except she did…once he knew that he was torn. He felt a sense of loyalty to Hannah because he had chosen her, but his heart still longed for Brennan.

No matter how much Hannah loved him, because she did more than words could ever hope to describe, she had always known that she was not his first choice. He cared about her deeply, and he would do anything for her. She was not disputing that, but she was not the person he wanted to spend the rest of his life with. That was part of why she had said no to his proposal.

It had broken her heart to see the expression on his face when she said no, but it was for the best…partially because you cannot marry a man knowing that he loves someone else more than you, and partially because she did not want to get married. Booth was the religious one who put faith in the sanctity of marriage. She had always been more of a free spirit.

When she was a little girl, all her friends had notebooks planning out their dream weddings…she had notebooks about places in the world she would like to visit. Sure she had wanted to find someone to spend her life with, but she had never seen how a piece of paper and a ring would make a relationship more special. Booth knew that about her…or at least he did once…

Maybe that was a sign that, even if Brennan was not in the mix, their relationship was not meant to last. Hannah wondered for a moment about that alternate universe…the one where Booth and Brennan had never met…in that universe Hannah supposed she and Booth might have had a chance. Of course in that universe there was a significant chance she and Booth would never have met…

Hannah shook her head. There was no use in wondering what would have happened in another universe because she did not have another universe. She only had this one, and it was very clear how this part of the story was going to end.

Brennan loved Booth. There was no question about that. Booth loved Brennan. Again there was no question about that. Hannah loved Booth too. There was no question about that either, but there was also no question about how this would end. Hannah was the odd person out…she loved someone who was in love with someone else…so she would leave…

That was the best way for it to be. She could hang on, and try to keep Booth's heart, but she would never win. The only thing that would achieve would be to confuse and hurt Booth even more and to break Brennan's heart. Neither of those were an outcome Hannah particularly liked.

As strange as it seemed, she still liked Brennan a lot and had no desire to hurt the other woman. As for Booth…she wanted what was best for him, and that was for her to walk away and not back. It broke her heart to do it, but her heart had been broken before. It had healed from those breaks, and she knew it would heal from this one. It would take time and space, but eventually the day would come when the pain disappeared and she was ready to find someone else.

Slowly she made her way towards the door and placed the last box of her stuff on the pile she had created. Some part of her knew that this was not quite the end…she and Booth would meet again she did not know when or why or how, but she knew that they would…

_**So what did you think? I liked parts of it and I'm not sure about other parts of it. Please review and tell me what you thought.**_


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